43 My Prince

After her dinner, Alora followed her father to the king's garden where the teleportation port was located. Other than six members nobody else was aware of it.

Zander instructed her, "Walk through."

Alora was confused. She couldn't perform any kind of magic. Anyway, she obediently followed Zander's words and crossed the teleportation spot. Not transported to any place, she turned around to face Zander.

Zander revealed the truth about her, "You had activated the teleportation gate when you were just three years old." Normally, the early age for mages to handle or use their powers was seven or eight years.

Alora's eyes widened. It was the first time her father was accepting that she has her powers. Edur's words replayed in her mind. Her powers were buried inside her by repeatedly telling her that she wasn't a mage.

But why?

Zander knew she had many questions that needed a response. Before she could detest them, he was going to clear the air.

A panicked voice interrupted them, "Zander…" Eugenie nervously looked at them, standing at the palace door. She could guess what they were up to. Her motherly heart was uneasy, her stomach clenched into a tight knot thinking of the possible difficulty Alora will have to face.

Zander was aware Eugenie could bear the hatred of Alora rather than risking her life. But he couldn't see them drifting away slowly. Standing in a position where he had the responsibility to help their daughter, he also didn't want to go against his wife. Losing any of them would hurt him.

Alora looked at her father and mother who were staring at each other. Were they going to continue hiding?

She wanted to know the truth, but at the same time, she was reluctant to worry about them. They had a lot of things to take care of, she didn't want to add more pressure on them.

Well, she could understand them, but is it wrong to expect them to consider her complicated life?

'Click.'

Alora craned her neck to look upstairs. She could guess it was Orla before Lothar came out holding a candle stick. Under the glow of candlelights, Alora could see Lothar was worried but Orla was confident like always.

"Eugenie." Orla didn't say much considering Alora's presence right there.

Nevertheless, Eugenie understood Orla was ordering her to let Zander take care of the matter. Curling her fingers into a tight fist, she nodded at Zander as her eyes filled up, "I will be right here." She was going to wait for them to return as they didn't know how it would affect Alora.

Zander sighed. How could he stop the mother from worrying about her child? So he nodded in acknowledgment.

Alora who was looking upstairs saw Lothar smile, bringing a smile to her face. She returned to Zander and held his arm when they crossed the teleportation portal and appeared on a mountain.

Alora let out a sigh of exhaustion as though she climbed the mountain in a breath. The cold wind was fluttering her cloak, sending a shiver down her spine.

Opening her eyes, her gaze landed on Arihan. His ink blue eyes were capturing the dark sky full of stars and the moon behind them. His eyes flashed in a moment of confusion, then displeasure filled them.

"Your Royal Highness, the crown prince." He bowed to Zander and walked away. Soon he disappeared into the darkness.

Alora: "…"

Why did she feel like Arihan was displeased at the sight of her?

Shaking off her thoughts, her eyes finally fell on the scenic view in front of her. There was a pond in front of her that reflected the dark sky of the twinkling sea of stars and the bright dazzling moon. The air had a rich pleasant scent of white fringe flowers that were planted around the place she was standing at. The fallen flowers made a flower bed and a few flowers were floating in the clearwater.

She was fascinated by the trees, the flowers, and the pond. There was no stream to collect water, yet it seemed like it wouldn't dry out the entire year. Her hand slipped from her father's arm as she went around the pond, looking at the flowers.

Zander sighed, the luxury, delicious food, variety of accessories, and outfits, nothing could soothe her as much as mother nature.

Alora reached where Arihan was standing before. From there, she could see the entire capital of the Anka, from the backside of the palace. She could feel she had been there before but it wasn't clear.

Turning around, she looked at the trees and the pond, 'This is my first time.' Then why did she find the place so familiar?

As though Zander could read her confusion, he spoke while looking around at the trees filled with white flowers, "You planted the seedlings of these trees." He couldn't believe the plants had grown so beautifully in fourteen years.

Alora pointed at herself, "Me?" She tried hard to look through her memory. Whenever they came to the palace, they were just in the king and queen's quarters sending everyone else away. "I don't remember it, Father."

Zander hummed because he was aware of it. He spoke as he approached her, "You were this small." He spread his arms as though carrying a baby. "We found you here, barely breathing, your heart rarely beats, your body colder than snow, your skin was ghastly…"

He didn't complete his words, looking at her expression of horror-stricken. She was so pale, the first sight of her gave him a thought that she had left them, forever.

Alora couldn't remember anything. She looked at the pond and the trees, nothing seemed poisonous, then how was she in that condition?

Zander didn't want to go in deep, in case she couldn't handle it or was ready to hear it. He came directly to the point about why they never let her cultivate her power or get physically strong.

"After that day, you were very frail. Just the wind would cause you to fall ill. The sun in the sky would make you faint. You would cough until your throat hoarse at the strong smell. You had become a toddler who couldn't walk." She was vulnerable to everything.

He could still recall how their hands used to shake to carry her. "Even the medicine was too strong for your body. Every physician had given up on you." Asking them to count the days. Everyone waited to hear Alora Linwood Roosevelt is no more.

Alora couldn't remember ever falling ill. That only meant Eugenie and Zander had taken care of every small detail so that she could stay healthy.

"Your magical power was too strong." But her body couldn't accommodate it. It made her even weaker day by day. "We could have lost your life if you had used it even once." Hence they didn't remind her of her powers as she had forgotten everything.

Alora found every word of Edur accurate. Her parents had every reason to do what they did. But she wasn't fragile anymore, Was she?

"Father, who hurt me? And how did you save me?"

Zander didn't have an answer for both. Nobody knows how she was reduced to such a state and only Orla knew how she was saved.

He held her hand and led her to sit on a rock. "I will try to unblock the memory you couldn't reach. Make sure to get out of memory if you can't handle it. Mother will be scared if something happens to you." It was a huge risk.

Alora hesitantly nodded as she wasn't aware of what was going to happen, "I will be careful."

Zander sat opposite her and started an incantation. Light emitted from his hand and Alora's back stiffened.

—— The past ——

[Alora could see the same place without the trees.]

She was sitting on the ground in her pretty dress and planting seedlings.

[She tried to look at herself but couldn't.]

A boy came next to her and poured water on the seedling when she was done. "My Princess, you don't have to dirty your hands. Let me do it for you."

"But your princess will do her work." Her adorable yet proud voice sounded as she got up and ran to the next hole where the boy had dug it for her.

When a bead of sweat dropped on the ground, she looked up at the scorching hot sun, and the boy suddenly appeared blocking the hot rays on her face.

[She tried to look at him but it wasn't clear.]

"My Princess, why don't you sit under the shade?" He insisted. "I will do it for you."

But the stubborn princess shook her head, "This is your princess's order." Then she giggled, "You aren't allowed to stop me."

Helpless, he removed his shirt and held it open and wide so that she wouldn't be troubled by the sun.

"Another one, planted." Little Alora excitedly said as she turned to the boy.

Her eyes widened when her gaze fell on a mark of the boy. She stood up and pointed at the crescent mark on him, "You're going to be my prince." She sounded certain and also shocked.

——Present——

Alora opened her eyes. She tried to look into what happened in that place, on the day she was almost dead. But she found out she was the one who placed the seedlings in the ground and found her prince.

Zander was glad she was all fine. "Alora!?" He waited for her to accept whatever she was able to recover.

"Father… Am I the next crown Princess?" Or else how was she so sure the boy was her prince?

Zander didn't lie. "You are." He was expecting a lot of questions about it.

Alora scratched her head, unable to describe what she was feeling, "I guess I had found the boy who has a crescent mark."

Zander: "…"

From the looks of it, she didn't know who the boy was. He promptly responded, "You used to bring all the kids here to play when ladies were gathering. Nobody knew the way here but you." They didn't know little Alora could install a teleportation portal at such a young age.

"General Darwin!?" Alora asked in horror as Arihan was in that place before them.

Just thinking of liking Arihan, the hell master who barely speaks, Alora felt like crying. She didn't want to be a crown princess. She sniffled in her mind hoping the man she falls in love with bears a resemblance to her father.